Victoria Beckham has unveiled a new ‘baby’ Range Rover in a bid to turn the mini-off-roader into a fashion icon for a younger generation of customers.
The popstar wife of footballer David Beckham, who has her own fashion label, revealed that she has been asked to design the interior of the new Range Rover Evoque – extending the ever-expanding ‘Brand Beckham’ into the world of motoring.
The new, smaller and lighter vehicle, to be built at the company’s Halewood plant on Merseyside, will create 1,000 jobs – though an axe does hang over one of the companies other two factories in the West Midlands.
On sale from summer 2011 and priced from £30,000 to around £45,000, the Evoque will be the ‘greenest’ Range Rover so far produced.
Beckham, wearing a nude asymmetric drape neck dress from her Autumn/Winter 2010 range, was among a host of celebrities invited by Land Rover and fashion magazine Vogue to Kensington Palace’s Orangery in West London for the 40th anniversary of the up-market Range Rover.
On her new role as car designer, she said: ‘I am incredibly excited to be collaborating with Range Rover. I like to take on a challenge and I’m ready for it.’
Model Erin O’Connor and TV presenter George Lamb were also among the 300 invited guests, as were Gabby Logan, Richard Hammond, and Jo Wood.
The new car will be available in four-wheel and two-wheel drive versions and will make its official public debut at the Paris Motor Show at the end of September.
Land Rover managing director Phil Popham said: ‘It was important to give the car a name that was instantly recognisable through language and cultural boundaries throughout the world.
‘We wanted to create a new name which was innovative and different. A name which implies exclusivity and arouses emotions. It is cosmopolitan and cross-continental, sophisticated and matches the car’s urban elegance.’
Mr Popham continued: ‘Today is a very special occasion for Range Rover – not only are we celebrating 40 years of the brand, we are also demonstrating our exciting future by showing the all-new Range Rover.’
He said the new vehicle would be ‘an important step for the future continued success and growth of the brand’.
The JaguarLandRover company is now owned by giant Indian conglomerate TATA after being bought by previous owners Ford for more than £1billion.
The new ‘baby’ Range Rover is based on the earlier ‘LRX’ prototype and being built with the help of a £27million taxpayer grant.
The new ‘green’ Range Rover will be the lightest and most fuel-efficient in the series Range Rover, with CO2 emissions of below 130g/km.
The company hopes the sportier and smaller off-roader will attract a new group of customers who may not have considered a Range Rover before.
Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern said: ‘In 2008 we introduced the LRX concept car. After a positive reception worldwide, the natural step for the business was to turn the LRX concept car into reality.
‘Tonight we wanted to show the world that we have stayed true to our word and delivered a car that completely represents the spirit of the LRX concept.’
Despite the star-studded launch, an axe still hangs over two JaguarLand Rover factories.
Indian owners TATA have announced one of the Birmingham factories will be shut down in a cost-cutting drive.
Either the Solihull factory, which employs 5,000, or the 2,000-strong Castle Bromwich plant will be shut down – with all production transferring to the other.
JaguarLand Rover, which currently employs 14,500, says there would be no compulsory redundancies but could not rule out voluntary job cuts, though it stressed that none were being called for.
Range Rover’s partnership with Vogue magazine stretches back to 1981, when the first factory-produced limited-edition Range Rover ‘In-Vogue’ was used by by the magazine for a fashion shoot in Biarritz, France.
This special edition led to Range Rover adopting the ‘Vogue’ nameplate in 1983, which is still a specification choice on the car today – the Range Rover Vogue.
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